Former Octopus employee convicted of £110,000 fraud
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A former Octopus Investments employee has been given a 12 month suspended sentence and 200 hours of community service after being convicted of a £110,000 fraud against the company.
John Campbell, who was a member of Octopus’ structured tax team, had his employment terminated in April this year as a result of some irregularities the firm identified through an internal audit process.
Octopus says Campbell falsified invoices for payment by the firm relating to football ticketing deals while overseeing a multi-million pound portfolio for its enterprise investment scheme structure, formerly known as the Octopus protected EIS.
The firm pressed charges and reported his activity to the FSA and to the City of London Police.
In court, Campbell pleaded guilty and was given a 12-month suspended sentence and 200 hours of community service. He was also barred as a company director for three years, according to a Telegraph report.
Octopus says the only party potentially impacted throughout the process was itself and there has been no risk to investors’ money or the integrity of the Octopus EIS.
It says the £110,000 which was defrauded has since been repaid to the firm.
A spokeswoman says: “At no point has there been any impact on our customers’ investments. The ticketing business continues to trade well and we recently closed the latest tranche of the Octopus EIS at just under £40 million. The current tranche of the product is open and will close in Q1 2010.”
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